Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 489

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1871

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2556	28 November 1871	William Houghton Colaburn Harriet Elizabeth Mottlee	William Houghton Clabburn Harriet Elizabeth Mottlee 💍 1871/6603	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	25 21	Christchurch Do	6 months 6 months	In the Church of St Luke	71/924	13 December 1871	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2557	28 November 1871	James Hetheringham Mary Martha Coffee	James Fotheringham Mary Martha Coffin Murray 💍 1871/9063	Bachelor Spinster	Manager of Bank	20 25	Lyttelton Lincoln Road	1 month 3 years	Lyttelton Church	71/706	20 November 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2558	29 November 1871	Francis M Cleary Mary Connolly	Francis McCleary Mary Connolly 💍 1871/7638	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 25	Christchurch Do	1 year 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	282	29 November 1871	Rev. J. M. Langer
2559	29 November 1871	Walter Lewis Miller Evelina Frances Heard	Walter Lewis Miller Evelina Frances Willcocks 💍 1871/8817	Bachelor Spinster	Teller in Bank W. P. Wales	22 18	Christchurch Do	6 years 4 years	In the Church Chapel of St Mary	682	29 November 1871	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2560	1 December 1871	James Luckling Emily Miles	James Suckling Emily Mills 💍 1871/8481	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	27 22	Christchurch Do	1 year 1 year	In the House of R & B Fraser	568	2 December 1871	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2561	2 December 1871	Samuel Henry Richards Mary Jane Morecroft	Samuel Henry Richards Mary Jane Morcombe 💍 1871/6597	Bachelor Spinster	Maltster Servant	26 28	Christchurch Do	3 months 1 year	In the Church of St Luke	71/922	3 December 1871	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2562	6 December 1871	Samuel Green Mary Murray	Samuel Green Mary Murray 💍 1871/6600	Bachelor Widow	Publican Housekeeper	31 32	Christchurch Do	3 days 6 years	In the Church of St Luke Lyttelton	71/923	6 December 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2563	6 December 1871	Charles Lucas Caroline Allingham	Charles Lucas Caroline Allingham 💍 1871/8478	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 24	Papanui Christchurch	5 years 3 years	In the House of William Williams South Town Belt	554	7 December 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2564	7 December 1871	George Frederick Carpenter Mary Jane Griffith Bartlett	George Frederick Carpenter Mary Jane Griffiths 💍 1871/9057	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 22	Yaldhurst Do	12 years 12 years	In Riccarton Church	71/102	23 December 1871	Rev. J. Bailey
2565	8 December 1871	Frederick Ellis Childs Catherine Bartlett	Fredk Elias Childs Catherine Bartlett 💍 1872/4398	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	21 21	Christchurch Do	2 years 2 years	In the Church of St John	71/142	11 December 1871	Rev. J. M. Euyer
2566	11 December 1871	Alexander Mollison Bridget O'Connell	Alexander Mollisson Bridget O'Connell 💍 1871/7650	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 21	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	286	11 December 1871	Rev. J. M. Euyer

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).